Hollinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



SB 959 
.R38 
Copy 1 



The Use of the Gasoline Torch 
in Fighting Insects and Fungi 

Copyright, I9I3, byFRED REINLEIN. Susanville, California 



Circular No. I39 November 16, 1913 



On pii^e 5 of my Circular No. 138 the claim is made that 1 
know of a practical way to stop the Argentine ant from nur- 
sing scale insects and plant lice on growing crops, and to con- 
trol them when they become a nuisance by insisting to live and 
multiply in some such place as a hollow tree near a hou.>e. 

The answer is, I would apply heat under pressure as gener- 
ated by a gasoline torch. 

As near as I was ever able to learn, I was the first to use a 
gasoline torch as a means of insect control. 

And as near as I was ever able to learn, I was the first to 
describe such use of a gasoline torch as a means of insect con- 
trol. 

I first used a gasoline torch for insect control in the fall of 
1896. I vras engaged at that time at Mt. Vernon, 111. in the 
growing, among other things, of plants of the cabbage tribe. 
The rainfall for several years previous to 1896 had been great- 
ly below normal, while the temperature was above normal. One 
of the results was that the harlequin cabbage bug worked its 
way from the South up id and beyond Central Illinois; also the 
chinch bugs became very destructive to corn. 

Being unable to find a satisfactory way of controlling the 
harlequin bug I at last hi-: upon using a gasoline torch such as 
is used ti great deal by painters and plumbers and found that 
when used while the plants are in fresh condition, as in the 
morning, they stand enough heat to allow of the destruction of 
tlie bugs without suffering materially themselves. 



I realized that such us.3 of heat under pressure is indefinite!}^ 
cheaper and in many cases more practicable than the use of the 
sprays that were then advocated for the control of insects not 
amendable to the use of poison. 

Thus leing directly interested in the control of some such 
insects cmd realizing the possibility for the country .if large, 1 
went to work in the spring of 1907 to test the use of heat thus 
supplied on insects affecting various crops. 

As the chinch bug was then very troublesome, corn received 
due attention. It was found that during cool spells all or most 
of the bugs would hide under the clods around the base cf the 
plaTits, but by letting the blast from the torch play about the 
base of the lowest leaves it was found that they would come 
tumblin.9- out from the top of the leaf-sheaths and come in 
much gi'cater number from under the clods. 

Now if a torch has such an effect upon insects hidden under 
clods, wiiat must you expect if you let such a blast blow upon 
a nest oi Argentine ants when the ant chooses as far as possible 

decomposing vegetable matter. " In summer time the 

ants apiear to do as little excavating as possible and seem to 
limit their efforts to excluding light or water, etc." (Ent. Pull. 
No. 122. p. 56). '^In wet situations or after heavy rains when 
the ground has become soaked with water the ants construct 
curiotis honey combed structures around the bases of tree 

trunks falling in at the slightest touch the 

loose construction permitting a liberal circulation of air 
through the walls and ceilings." (p. 56). 

On the other hand: ''In case of danger the workers' first in- 
stinct appears to be to remove the young (eggs, larvae, pupae) 
to a place of safety and they readily sacrifice their own lives in 
order to accomplish this" (p. 40). 

Thus imagine the blast from a torch blow upon such a pile 
and the queens and workers all coming out, the latter loaded 



'(g.CI.A351)157 



SB ^59 



with young and exposed at close range to the blast emerging 
from the burner. It necessarily means annihilation of the whole 
outfit. 

As to danger from fire : The country infested with New Or- 
leans as a starting point lias as per table 1, Ent. Bull. No. 122, 
a mean anrual precipitation of 54.9 inches. In such a country 
there is always enough growing vegetation to render fires over 
large areas next to impossible, except perhaps in the fall at the 
time of the falling of leaves. But in California where the ant is 
also present, in smaJler numbers, the precipitation is only 16.2 
inches, just one-third. And the rain comes mostly during the 
cool season. The drying up of vegetation begins in June. Hence 
the fight must be done during the moist season and the time 
for using the torch would be a question for the legislature to 
consider and regulate. 

During my tests in 1907 I found that if sweet corn is planted 
near cruciferous plants infested with the harlequin bug, manv 
adults I'y to it when it is tasseling and feed on the pollen dur- 
ing the warm part of the day. And I found that if you attempt 
to then kill them with a blast from the torch they will f^y ofiF, 
although part of them arc likely to be sIoav enough to permit 
of scorching them Now, of course, there is no need for a torch 
in this case, since it is easy to pick them off and throw them into 
a can with water and a little kerosene, and this, moreover, 
kaves YiO bad effects upon the pollen. Thus by planting at fre- 
quent intervalls some hills of sweet corn near where crucifer- 
ous plants are to be grown, at least a large part of the adults 
can be secured throughout the season without the use of an in- 
secticide at all. 

But the effect of a blast upon harlequin bugs thus exposed 
serves as an additional illustration of how insects capable of 
considerable locomotion get a move on themselves as they feel 
the heat waves approach. This effect of the torch is of great 



4 
value in the ease of an insect like the boll weevil that emerges 
during a long period and which it may be desirable to pick off 
of the plants. 

The bollweevil usually drops off of the plant when it is dis- 
turbed. And since T know that the heat vibrations from a torch 
have a much more powerful effect than mere jarring in the case 
of the chinch bug and harlequin bug and in fact of all insects 
capable of ready locomotion, I don't see why it should not in 
the same manner affect the weevil. 

Because of this I had in my Circular No. 18, June 1904 advis- 
ed to use a torch, but this point was never investigated by the 
Bureau of Entomology. 

At any rate it was then a secondary matter. The main ques- 
tion was whether traprov/s could be employed. The answer to 
that is yes and no, just what you understand under traprows 
and how you intend to manage them. If you examine the 
edge of the field daily for weevils as soon after as squares begin 
to set, this edge will serve as traprows and the reasons why this 
is a success you will find on page 7 of my Circular No. 
137 and you also find there and on page 2 of my Cir- 
cular No. 135 the reason:-; why any other use of traprows must 
be a failure. The Bureau of Entomology says nothing. 

As the case now stands, the securing of hibernated adults 
whenever such is necessary or advisable, practicable at all 
only, a( cording to my claims, by a daily examination of the 
edge of the field for the rest of the period of emergence — a 
period of from 3 to 5 weeks — can be simplified by the use of a 
torch as by going along the edge of the field enough heat waves 
can be blown along the rows at a distance from the plants to 
not affect them at all unfavorably to make the weevils drop 
and thus l:e readily noticed when by holding the burner close 
up to them for about 2 to 3 seconds this w^ill kill them. But this 
use of K torch is r.ot an essential future of control. The essential 



5 
point described in detail May 18th 1912, in my Circular No. 127, 
p. 4 is that while weevils when no squares are present settle up- 
on the first cotton they come to, which with the field cleared by 
fi plowing during the winter is the edge of the field, and then 
move only 0.35 foot per day, they with the advent of squares, 
begin feeding upon them exclusively and the males then will 
feed on the average upon one square for two days, while the 
females require a. least 5 times that many, that is, 8 per day. 
After thus feeding for 4 days upon squares the female is ready 
to oviposit, laying on the average 5 eggs per day, using a 
square for each, this being exclusive of what squares they re- 
quire for feeding. Thus as every search for each additional 
square necessarily brings them further away from the edge of 
the field it becomes clear that successful control requires that 
their feeding upon squares must be stopped as soon as practi- 
cable after arrival and that, in order to reduce the movement, 
and consequently the work of examining, to the minimum it is 
necessary to keep the squares at the edge as near as possible 
free of feeding punctures and as this can only be done by se- 
curing the weevils as soon after arrival as practicable it means 
that the edge of the field must be examined for arriving 
weevils daily till emergence is over, absolutely so or nearly so, 
as may seem best in practice. 

If the Bureau of Entomology can figure it out some other 
way, let them do it. 

I found in 1897 that in holding the troch up to most egg- 
clusters such as of the harlequin bug on cabbage or of the 
squash bug on squash for about 2 to 3 seconds they get usually 
destroyed as far as hatching is concerned, and this amount of 
heat does little or no damage to the leaves especially when 
used in the morning whib,' dew is on the plants. The thin, 
fragile leaves of plants of the cucumber tribe will be found to 
stand an astonishing amount of heat without injury. Then, 



again, Avhenever egg clusters like these were allowed to hatch, 
the young will stay together for some time and it takes but 
little of the blast to kill them, which is much faster than could 
be done by hand. If you will lift a cucumber or squash vine, 
big or small, carefully, for they do not like to be handled at all, 
and you let the blast blow upon the ground just uncovered you 
will be surprised at the great number of insects you usually 
find there and these can be killed at close range while thus on 
the ground. 

In handling plantlice, such as the cabbage or melon louse, 
the thing to do is to begin while infestation is slight and go 
along the rows at a slow pace, preferably in the morning, let- 
ting the blast blow onto the underside of the leaves, going up 
first one side of the row then down the other. This, repeated as 
may be necessary, will keep the pests in check without injur- 
ing the plants. 

Some leaf eating insects, as for instance blister beetles, are 
not readily killed by poison and work in numbers together. 
Such I have found can usually be succesfully handled with a 
torch. 

By 1897 the San Jose Scale was getting a foothold in Illinois. 
I realized that such use ot heat ought to be of value in control- 
ling this insect and prove to be the cheapest means. Thus in the 
fall of 1897 I went to an infested orchard and made a test. 

And after getting a favorable report in the spring of 1898 I 
published my first book on the Use of the Gasoline Torch in 
Fighting Insects. 

About three months after this I happened to notice in one 
of the hardware stores at Mt. Vernon, 111. a gasoline torch bear- 
ing a label reading: Winfree Bug Exterminator. 

Now, after due reflection, I concluded that the term Bug Ex 
terminator when affixed to a gasoline torch was telling in one 
word the essence of what I had published on the use of the 



gasoline torch in fighting insects and was an infringment on 
my copyrighted matter^ unless that word was used on such 
torches before I secured my copyright. 

]\Ir. Winfree — eT. M. Winfree, Nashville, 111. — according to 
a statement made to me in 1898 in writing, first used the 
torch in 1897 in an effort to control the chinch bug. He seemed 
to be backed by a concern interested in the making and selling 
of torches and some effort was made on his part to have me sell 
^y copyright to him, but by that time I had already realized 
that the common plumbers torch is not the best type for that 
work, and that altogether the possibilities for the use of heat 
thus generated were greater than Mr. Winfree could see, hence 
notl ing was accomplished. 

I had realized that in using a common torch the operator has 
to sway the w^hole thing about, while, of course, only the burn- 
er was what really needed swaying. Then again when working 
on low plants the operator had to work in a stooping position. 
This suggested to me the need for a torch of the knapsack 
type. Moreover, as this torch was to be used also upon trees 
wherever there was any use for it, some arrangement had to be 
made that it might be suspended upon trees and be in a coui- 
pact form when being moved from branch to branch. 

At that time the browntail moth was making great headway 
in New England and since the most effective means of control 
then consisted in the cutting off, during winter, by means of 
pole shears, of the webs located usually at the ends of 
the branches, on trees of greatest hight as well as on smaller 
ones, I was satisfied that the use of such torch would be bet- 
ter all around. 

The torch also appeared to me to be of value in the case of 
a shade tree insect attacking fruit trees like the tussock moth 
the larvae of which are not readily controlled by poison and 
that deposits its cocoons largely in colonies and where the re- 



8 

suiting females may, as they do in the ease of the tussoek moth, 
move but little from that place to deposit their eggs, since sub- 
jecting either the cocoons, or the adult females, which in the 
case of the tussock moth are wingless, or the resulting egg- 
masses to as much of a hot air blast as can be borne by that par- 
ticular part of the tree, once or repeated as may be necessary, 
must be detrimental to the insect. 

Also by that time I had realized, and published in various 
circulars, that heat thus applied licks off the fungus spores, 
the claim resting upon the fact that when the blast is applied 
when there is little or no sunlight, little particles upon the leaf 
can be seen to light up, and that it can be clearly seen during 
the day that leaves bearing masses of spores can be freed oi 
these. 

This finally resulted in the getting out on my part of a 
torch I began to make applications for Patent for in 1900 and 
had finally issue under No. 739,221, Sept. 15th, 1903. Its special 
features consist in that the pump is located in the center of the 
tank, the piston of the pump is worked by a handle having the 
shape of a hook, and this piston can be locked against move- 
ment by means of a pin, so that the torch can be suspended by 
means of the hook. A spur was provided on that hook to fur- 
nish a means of supporting the burner while the apparatus is 
being moved from branch to branch. fSee last pao^e.) 

A good many difficulties had to be overcome before satisfac- 
tory work could be secured from the apparatus. A tank of 
about two gallons was found to be handiest. To use the torch 
the tank is filled about one-third full of gasoline, the rest is left 
for compressed air. 

About that time a party in Missouri advertised a torch for 
trapping insects at night. The apparatus consisted, in effect, ot 
a pan containing water and some kerosene, upon which sat at 
right angles to each other two sheets of tin cut out at the junc- 



9 
don so that a common kerosene torch of the 10c type could 
burn. The sheets of tin were to serve the purpose of more reac^- 
ily leading the insects to the flame to increase their chances of 
getting so injured that they might fall into the kerosene be- 
low. 

Since the claims for that apparatus were extravagant th« 
Cornell University, of Ithacca, N. Y. took the maiter up, chief'y 
because they had years before made tests with a trap lanterii, 
that is, a common lantern set upon a brick or bricks in a pan ol 
water, with kerosene. 

They found that they had caught practically the same run of 
insects with their lantern as they did with the Missouri torch, 
except that in the case of lacewinged insects, the torch showed 
a much greater number of insects caught. They found they had 
caught nothing worth while, the injurious insects being offset 
by beneficial and neutral ones, the only thing worth mention- 
ing being adults of the tent caterpillar, of which the specimens 
caught were all or mostly males. 

They, therefore, concluded that the use of traplights is of no 
value in a general way, but might be of value in the case of an 
injurious winged adult occurring in great numbers, flying only 
during a well defined and rather short period, and were both 
males and females are strongly attracted to light. 

Now, there was at the outset anyway one insect that did 
fill the bill, to my knowledge. It was the browntail moth. 

In as much as a gasoline torch generates a heat of about 
1500 edgrees and because of it, shows at night the burner to be 
red hot and gives off a yellowish flame in the shape of a blast, 
I realized that such a torch would be immensely more danger- 
ous than could be either a kerosene torch or a trap lantern. 

The fact that the Cornell people caught about the same kind 
of insects with the lantern as well as with the torch would tend 
to prove that the insects caught were not injured by any heat, 



lO 

but simply settled down upon the kerosene for a rest. And the 
exception in the ease of the lacewings, of whien about 3000 
more were caught wuth the torch, tends to prove that this was 
due to an injury to their delicate wings by the flame of the 
torch, the heat not being strong enough to injure the other in- 
sects more than would tht globe of a traplantern. 

Since the Missouri party credited his torch with catching 
codling moths the Cornell people paid close attention to what 
they caught of this insect and I believe they caught only two, 
by the combined and independent use of traplantern and torch. 
Another official entomologist, in Nebraska, I believe, caught 
with the Missouri torch 7 or 9 in one season. The Missouri man 
contended the codling moths are attracted to light and the 
Cornell people quoted Prof. E. D. Sanderson while he was with 
the Maryland Experiment Station as stating that he had lib- 
erated codling moths in a, room lighted by a Rochester lamp 
and they flew around the lamp once or twice then retired to 
some corner and never came back. From this and from the 
statements of other investigators to the same effect Prof. Slin- 
gerland, who did the work, concluded the codling moth is not 
attracted to light. 

Now, that is manifestly true as far as it goes. But I, rather 
accidently, can add the other half to the story. About May 
22nd, 1904 I was working at Mt. Vernon, 111. at about 9 p. m. 
on a desk near a window in the corner of a room having no 
screens and used a kerosene lamp that threw a good strong 
light upon my work sirct^ it had a common lamp shade of stiff 
paper, the rest of the room being nearly dark. Suddenly a moth 
flew in and began to fly about in a rapid zick-zack fashion 
within the lighted area tor several seconds, then flew aw^ay. 
This at once reminded me of the description of the codling 
liioth flight as given in the Bulletin of the Cornell University 
on this insect, but at the {^am# time I recalled that all the Doc- 



1 r 



tors had agreed that this moth is not attracted to light and as 
its flight was unusually rapid I did not feel inclined to attempt 
to catch it. However, when it came back the third time I con- 
cluded I had best try to get rid of it, and since it might be a 
codling "aoth, I was careful and accidently secured it in perfect 
condition. It was a codling moth. No mistake. I had raised cod- 
ling moths from wormy apples and knew the insect. Then, fui- 
ther, I saved the specimen and had not long after a chance to 
show it to the Assistant of the State Entomologist of Illinois. 
He said it was a codling moth. However, try it yourself. 

Now, the cause — and there is always a cause — that Prof. 
Sanderson's moths did not hover about the light was, as near 
as I can see, that there was but little more light next to tfi.3 
w^hite opaque globe that constitutes part of a Rochester lamp — 
to my knowledge — than there was away from it, while in my 
case the light was all confined to a small space. 

The codling moth emerges during a long period in the 
spring. Then about 80 per cent of the worms try to enter at the 
calyx end of the young apple, which if it has previously been 
filled with arsenic by means of a spray, is as far as they go. 
Then, again, the second brood overlaps with the first. However, 
as the second brood cannot be handled with poison, the use of 
a suitable torch might prove to be of decided value in years 
when codling moths appear to be plentiful, if it is used occa^ 
sionally during the early part of a quiet, warm and dark 
night away from any other lights. 

The first time I used a gasoline torch for trapping insects 
was by letting the burner of a knapsack torch rest upon the 
edge of a galvanized iron washtub containing water with kero- 
sene, the gasoline tank standing on the ground. After running 
about 2 hours I had about 1500 insects which were sent to 
Washington. Entomologist Howard had them examined. They 



12 

proved to be mostly ground beetles — beneficial insects — not 
what was wanted. 

In using a torch as thus described the gasoline supply is at a 
lower level than the burner. When the air pressure gets low, 
as it will when it is expected to run itself without attention, 
.he flow of gasoline becomes intermittent and the flame goes 
out ard the remaining gasoline is going to waste through th«- 
burner. 

To avoid this I suspended the tank amply high to not only 
allow of the burner to hang cl,own, but to be then yet elevated 
from the ground as high as might be desired which with me 
usually was 3 to 5 feet. 

It was found that under this arrangement there was always 
enough gravity pressure to secure a steady flow of gasoline till 
all was used up. A galvanized pail containing water with kero- 
sene was hung onto the burner and as this did put altogether 
too much strain on the hose that connects the pipe carrying the 
burner with the tank, the pipe was at its upper end caught 
with a cord and the cord tied up at a length shorter than the 
hose, thus giving the required slack. 

It soon became apparent that as far as catching qualities 
were concerned, this arrangement came pretty near being per- 
fection. 

Such a torch does not make a bright light. This in a way, 
is a disadvantage, since I lie light is seen over a smaller radius 
then is either that from a kerosene torch or a traplantern. On 
the other hand the insects that do fly to it cannot in the dark- 
ness about it correctly estimate the distance they are as yet 
away when making for it and they practically all bump their 
heads against the red hot burner or fly into the hot air blast 
blowing downwards into the pail. The rim of the pail is, or can 
be arranged to hang, about 2 or 3 inches below the mouth of 
the burner. The sides of the pail are much too hot for any in- 



13 
sect if uot at once completely stunned to get a hold on it. How- 
ever, observations seem to indicate that some of the stronger 
and hardier beetles and, maybe, moths are not so stunned and 
often escape. 

May beetles are a good sample of this class. These beetles 
when plentiful do great damage. It may be that the females do 
a great deal less flying than the males after they become heavy 
with eggs, but it is certain that light has attraction to them 
and there does not seem to be any reason why they should not 
before egg laying is well under way fly about as much as the 
males. In a general way both as beetles and grubs they are hard 
to get rid of economically, hence in this and all similar cases 
light trapping ought to be used for all it can be made to do. 

It would be quite feasible to take a disk of tin of the size ot 
the pail, cut out a slot and then fit it in the shape of a low cone 
similar to a lamp shade just above the burner. This would 
leave a circle of light of about 4 inches for the insects through 
w^hich to enter, while, once inside, the chances of ever getting 
out are very slim. 

My tests in orchards showed a large variety of insects and in 
the truck garden there was noticed a good mixture of cucum- 
ber beetles and one catch with the torch hung up among a row 
of young elm trees about 25 feet high contained an elm tree 
borer, also one catch examined by Prof. Slingerland was re- 
ported to show a good many leaf hoppers, but on the whole 
there w^as no noticeable catch of any important insect in quan- 
tity and the reason was there was no important insect about 
m quantity, nor could I devote as much time and money to 
carry on tests in different locations as I was willing to do. 

I had fully realized by 1903 and stated so in one of the 16 
circulars I published between 1898 and 1903 that this appara- 
tus was sure to catch lar<2:e quantities of browntail moths, as 



H 

large catches then went, if, of course, located away froni the 
electric lights. How to gel. rid of those and of other insects that 
stay within he influence of the electric lights is an independent 
problem. The browntail moth is on the wii.g, at its best, for 2 to 
i weeks and both male and female are strong flyers. The Depart- 
ment of Agriculture had bought a torch at that time, but they 
neither gave the involved system a fair trial during the day nor 
at niglit. On the whole, they condemned it. 

Take the case of the nnt weevils. At present, to my know- 
ledge, the chiefmeans of control recommended is the destruc- 
tion of the infested fallen fruits. Now, to my knowledge, most 
or all of these weevils are single brooded, the females are good 
flyers as else they could not oviposit their eggs to advantage 
and they have a well defined flying season. Why should not the 
torch be of value against the related apple and plum curculios, 
and, in a general way, against all night flying curculios affect- 
ing the various crops, since the use of poison is on the wholo 
out of question against this class of insects as is, practically, 
the use of contact insecticides. 

Take the case of the elm tree borer. Their preferred feeding 
places are old or maturing elm groves. Why should a torch 
there not work to advantage? The same holds good with the 
hickory bark beetle. 

Take the case of the pine destroying beetles : for all I know 
they are good flyers and they would be probably attracted to 
light. If so it ought to be possible to destroy enough of them by 
trapping to make unnecessary, to a large degree at least, the 
premature felling of trees affected by them. 

The larch worm, according to Entomology Circular No. 125, 
p. 3 "has killed during several extensive outbreaks since 1880, 
from 50 to 100 per cent of the mature larch over vast areas in 
the north eastern United States and southeastern Canada". . . . 



15 
damage: ''many billions of feet." Most likely the female adult 
is a good flyer and attracted to light. 

In a general way these timber insects are good flyers and 
more likely to be attracted to light as not. The present chiet 
means of control is the felling and working up of the infested 
trees, many of which, if the attack could be reduced in severity, 
could be allowed to grow to maturity. 

The larvae of the hawk moths and cut worms are often very 
numerous and destructive. The adults, of the cut worm 
at leasr., are attracted to light, and light trapping with a cor- 
rect type of torch ought to be of at least some value. In my 
tests I caught a good many cut worm moths. Again, the mere 
ascertaining as to whether many or few such moths, or of May 
beetles, are around is of value, as this permits of taking ceriain 
precautions by w^hich if moths or beetles were plentiful, the 
damage from the resulting larvae, due to appear later, can be 
reduced. 

In the case of the Argentine ant: *'An enormous and general 
flight of males and virgin queens was observed at Baton Rouge, 
La., in the spring of 1908 when large numbers of both sexes 
were captured in butterfly nets. On the other hand, during the 
spring of 1910 and that of 1911 no general flight was observed 

Considerable numbers of males were seen flying around 

the city electric lights but no queens were found with 

them " (Ent. Bull. No. 122, p. 48). It would seem from the 

above that when the males and virgin queens do fly, part of 
them at least could be attracted to a traptorch. Unless a queen 
is thus destroyed soon after becoming adult and before she ha? 
commenced egglaying and shed her wings she is likely to live 
several years and can re\er be fought with the torch when it is 
used as a traplight. 

On the other hand there is some tall use for a torch in other 



l6 

respects : ' ' Many permanfint nests are located in the tops of 
trees, in rotten branches, or in places where borers or termites 
have been working" (Ent. Bull. No. 122, p. 5G). Whtm in the 
past you found nests ''within hollow trees, beneath the rough 
bark of growing trees, in forks of trees" (p. 55) you have not 
known of a practical remedy. A hot air blast from a torch is the 
only feasible thing, at least at present, and the torch ought to 
be of a type as was designed by me for work in trees. 

Where the nests of thjs kind are permanent, in the sense of 
being perennial, some cold morning during the winter would 
be an especially good time for attack as then any ants falling 
off would freeze up. 

Incidentally the torch is the best thing to set fire to the win- 
ter trap piles described in my Circular No. 138. 

When dt comes to handling ants on growing crops you are 
killing two birds with one stone by using a torch. The aim, of 
course, is to apply heat enough to so injure the insects — the 
ants as well as their hosts, the scale and plant louse insects — 
as to finally succumb to one or more applications without ma- 
terially injuring the plant. Ants subjected to a blast while on 
a plant will quickly drop off and are then killed on the ground. 

On page 77 of Ent. Bull. No. 122 the authors point out that ex- 
periments have shown that only about one per cent of workers 
are normally out on foraging trails and that therefore the kill- 
ing off of these ''does not materially affect the domestic 
economy of the colony or retard the rate of increase " 

Now according to my system of Argentine ant control as far 
fs it is described in my Circular No. 138 the opportunity for 
severest attack upon them consists in using winter trap piles 
and if this results in keeping both the ants and the scale and 
plant lice insects in check, nothing further need be done, but 
if these scale and plant lice insects are numerous, due or not 
due to any efforts on the part of the ants that may or may not 



17 

be present, they have to be attended to and there is to my 
knowledge, during the growing season, all kinds of insects con- 
sidered nothing more practicable than the judicious use of a 
hot air blast ; and if ants are present, they get their dose of 
Piedicine along with the rest. This would soon lead to a severe 
decrease in the number of workers. -■■.:-<,■; 

It is quite likely that the usual rate of about 99 per cent of 
workers remaining in the nest is conducive for securing the 
best results and that any disturbance of this ratio has a ten- 
dency to make the queens join the foraging workers. ''Queens 
will frequently leave the nests with the workers. Ten queens^ 
'egg laying machines', the business end of the colony— 
v.-ere collected dn 30 minutes from a large trail of workers at 
New Orleans during January 1911. These were quite remote 
from the nearest nest. ' ' Thus with the foraging detachment con- 
stantly cut down, queens are likely to go after a dose of medi- 
cine themselves. The thing to do is to let the blast blow along 
the trail. 

The use of poison in the control of leaf eating insects is in a 
great many cases not practicable. The larvae of the canker- 
vorm, the tussock moth, the browntail moth and the gipsy 
moth for instance can partake of considerable poison before 
they succumb. Of the California tussock moth for instance you 
may read in Bulletin No. 183 of the California Experiment 

Station on page 203 " in laboratory experiments when 

the foliage was thoroughly covered with arsenate of lead ap- 
plied at a dilution of 3 to 6 pounds to 50 gallons of water and 
newly hatched larvae were placed upon it, the majority of 
them died from arsenical poisoning, but even then some surviv- 
ed and only succumbed after prolonged exposure to thoroughly 
poisoned leaves. Slightly older insects were found to be ex- 
tremely resistant; some survived four weeks when their only 
food was leaves literallv whitewashed with arsenate of lead. . " 



i8 

Then, again, many, probably most of these insects do not 
hatch all at nearly the same time and as many of them feed on 
the top of timber trees no spray could well be applied and the 
spraying, if attempted, would usually have to be done in the 
spring when new foliage is constantly growing and rains are 
frequent. Then again wiiile beetles as a whole may do great 
damage and are not readily affected by poison, this holds good 
in an especial manner in the case of snout beetles, such as the 
plum curculio and bollweevil, as these feed chiefly by lacerat- 
ing the surface of the leaf or young fruit and feeding upon the 
tissues below. 

If valuable trees, as for instance fruit trees, are affected with 
the larvae of the tussock moth or with the spring canker worm 
a moderate application of heat from a torch would make 
these insects drop, and would incidentally more or less injure 
them. This application of heat would incidentally be also suffi- 
cient to lick oft* all or at least most of the fungus spores present 
also w^ould affect any scale insects or lice that raay be present 
and that would not be affected at all by an arsenical mixture. 

Or take the case oi the pear tlrips a!':eelirig various fruit 
trees and infesting the best fruit lands east of San Francisco. 
The adults emerge from the ground by the end of Febi'iiarv 
and during early March, force their way into the fruit bud, a.^ 
soon as this is possible and feed upon the tenderest portions 
within. Eggs are deposited "just under the epidermis in t^e 
fruit stems, young fruit and leaf stems" (Ent. Circ. No. 131, p. 
5) hence cannot be attacked in anyway. But the larvae are on 
the trees in maximum numbers ' ' from April 1st to 15th ' ' an 
ideal time, in that climate, for any larvae to put in some busy 
days. The chief reliance to control the pear thrips is at present 
a ''combination of distillate oil emulsion and the nicotine solu- 
tion" (p. 8). The spray is admittedly expensive, the work has 
to be done w^ith a power outfit giving a pressure of 150 to 200 



19 

pounds and as the thrips may destroy all prospect of a crop in 
less than a week's time the use of the outfit is short. ''Only 
arglenozzles should be employed and these must be held close to 
the bud clusters to force the spray directly into the ends of the 
buds. This is absolutely necessary to secure good penetration 

and get satisfactory results " (p. 20). Then why should 

not the use of heat, applied if necessary in the morning, destroy 
these adult thrips since they would be made to move about and 
the tender portions upon which they feed need not be subjected 
to a dangerous degree of heat? And why should it not destroy 
a little later the larvae 1 

Suppose some iiissoek moth or canker worm larvae are pres- 
ent also. These upon feeling the blast would drop off before be- 
coming fatally injured, which may hold good also with the 
thrips larvae, but usually all these larvae readily find their 
way back to the trunk, or else perish from lack of their food 
suppl5^ As a means of following up the fight, soil should be 
ridged up against the trunk, drawn up from a circle of about 
o feet diameter with the periphery of this circle marked by a 
steep edge. The larvae will then drop in and as their ascent will 
be difficult and can bemade impossible altogether, they can l)e 
killed there by a blast from the torch. 

This course is practicable in the case of larvae of the brown- 
tail moth and many other moths. The larvae of the gipsy moth 
feed at night and descend on the trunk in the morning. If this 
same course is followed and the ridging is done roughly they 
wdll hide under the clods, this being their only choice as they 
could not climb the steep wall at the periphery of the circle 
and the application of a sharp heat blowing into the clods dur- 
ing the day will dispose of them. 

Take the insects affecting the citrus fruits. AVhile the hcalc in- 
sects can be kept in check by fumigation, the mealy bug, red 



2D 

spiders, mites and the white fly are but little affected by it, 
while the use of heat controls all of them at the same time. 

The most important enemies of the hop plant are lice and 
red spiders. These can be easily controlled by the use of heat, 
if the work is started early as it should be with any remedy in 
such cases. 

The cotton stainer, at present, is the most important enemy 
of the cotton in Florida (Ent. Circ. No. 149. p. 1). Its life his- 
tory and habits are similiar to that of the harlequin bug. It is 
easiest handled with the torch once it is inside the field 

The i^rapevine has several important insect and fungus 
enemies. The insect eneniies show a great variation in habits. 
Then, again, the fungus diseases require fighting in most cases. 
Jn the early spring the flea beetle may be there to feed upon 
the buds of the vine, eating them entirely away, or eating out 
the centers. It is obvious, then, that because of this burrowing 
habit control by poison cannot be very satisfactory. If it is at- 
tempted at all, the best way to use it is to literally paint the 
buds with a thin paste of the poison mixture. The beetles are 
easily jarred from the vines and if you let a blast blow along 
the row they drop without jarring and can be killed by a blast 
close at hand on the ground. Using a blast thus slightly would 
lick off the fungus spores that will be present. By the time the 
vines have developed any leaves the grapevine hoppers, having 
passed the winter as adults, are ready to feed upon them. My 
tests showed me that this insect is amenable to treatment by 
the use of the torch. The.^e hibernated adults should be gotten 
rid of before they start egg laying. This can be best done by 
applying the blast daring cool spells or in the morning Avhen 
they are liable to be huddled together on the underside of the 
leaves. If this is neglected or only partly carried out, the work 
should be kept up while the resulting young have not yet ac- 
quired wings to any great extent as then their control becomes 



21 

correspondingly more difficult. If the torch is used, however, 
this use of heat has always a tendency to lick the leaves clean 
of spores and also make such beetles as may be present, such as 
the adults of the graperoot worm or the click beetles, which are 
the adults of the wire worms, or of leaf chafers drop off the 
plant and thus be noticed and killed. Then, again, rather late 
in the season near when the grapes begin to ripen, the second 
brood of the grape leaf folder is apt to appear in large num- 
bers. Of the old methods of control the spraying of the leaves 
with poison before the worms hatch is the only means that has 
a chance of success, except, of course, crushing the larvae by 
hand later. The adult is a moth, probably night flying and at- 
tracted to light. The grape leaf hoppers seem to be also attract- 
ed to light to a limited extent, hence tests should be made as to 
what can be done with the trap torch to control these and other 
pests while in the adult stage. 

A good illustration of how the means of insect control at 
present advocated by the Bureau of Entomology become im- 
practicable when it comes to low priced crops — forest, cereal 
or forage — is given by the account of the ravages of the New 
Mexico range caterpillar in Entomology Bulletin No. 85, part 
V. As to means of control the writer says on page 95 that the 
chief difficulty in applying remedial measures "is found in the 
extremely small value per acre of the grass crop ' ' in these high 
and dry regions ''lands rent for from 2 to 5 cents per acre for 
the year's pasturage " (p. 95) with the land as now in- 
fested by the worms, with ''the grass eaten to the very roots for 

miles " and "the uneaten grass not relished by 

stock " (p. 61). 

' ' This argument, which is a common one ' ', that is, is just as 
apt to occur on other low priced cereal, forage or timber crops, 
"puts an end to all mechanical means of control of this r)est 



22 

(p. ^^) by whicL the author means "by expensive means" (p. 

95.) " no ready relief is yet in sight" (p. 96). 

The account sets forth that these caterpillars are the lar/ae 
of moths that begin to emerge about October 1st. ' ' The great 
majority of the Hemileuca moths emerge from the pupae early 

in the morning " (p. 82). "The freshly emerged moths 

remain perfectly quiet during the day " (p. 82). "About 

4:30 in the afternoon the male moths begin to stir very 

soon launches himself for his crepuscular flight ' ' and 

*'the female rarely takes to wing before 5 p. m. She. . . . 

, .sails off in a straight line many of the females fail to 

mate where they emerge " (p. 83). "When fairly on the 

wing the flight of the Hemileuca moths is strong and persis- 
tent " (p. 84). "How far the females travel carrying 

their eggs is largely a matter of conjecture, but as they fly at 

the rate of 8 to 10 miles an hour there seems good reason 

to believe that they traverse long distances before they alight. 
The fluttering myriads of moths were present over very wide 
areas Taking into account the fact that the life of the in- 
dividual moth rarely if ever exceeds three days, the successive 

multitudes constitute a menace that needs only to 

be seen to be appreciated" (p. 85) "AVhen attracted to a light- 
ed window at night the moths remain there " (p. 88) . . 

multitudes of Hemileuca moths were flying about 

the electric lights at Trinidad, Colo " (p. 62) which 

tends to show, strongly, that light has a great deal of attrac- 
tion to the moths. 

Well, it is by the use of a trap torch chiefly that some ready 
relief is coming into sight. There is no good reason why with a 
torch hung up myriads of moths shciild i ot come witlin 
its influence each night, although moonshine may act unfavor- 
ably. There is no good reason why not at least a substantial 



23 

percentage can be thus destroyed. Since "the males are much 
more active than the females" (p. 84), more males than fe- 
males must be expected to be caught. Catching males, especially 
as they constitute about 3-5 of the total number, may seem to 
le useless, but indications are that a male can serve only three 
females during his life of three days, that is, is capable only of 
tr:ating with one female in a night. If so the destruction of tne 
males would not be useless, because many females would fail to 
find mates and lay sterile eggs. Or with a scarcity of males 
would do more flying. 

"The usual time for depositing the eggs is in the early part 
of the day " (p. 69). Hence a female must have been fly- 
ing at least one night, and there is a probability that she does 
not oviposit till after the second night. It is also not likely that 
the females after ovipositing do much more flying. Hence a 
torch will be practically always dangerous to them, and their 
offspring, when on the wing, 

A trap lantern hung up 5 feet from the ground on the plains 
can be seen by a man standing high enough, say 10 feet, fo^ 
probably considerably more than 5 miles. A traptorch, makinc: 
less light, we will assume to show up for one mile. We will 
assume that the Hemileuea moths can see as well as man Hlien 
a trap torch would attract moths from a circle having a r.iduis 
of a mile, or from about 2000 acres. From what is known we 
may assume the males to travel 50 miles and the females 2) 
miles a night, berce the moths within that circle of one 
mile radius are always charging, that is, if all were caught by 
the torch at a given time, the supply would be replenished 25 to 
50 times respectively. 

The cost of using a traptorch is not at all great, as a gallon of 
gasoline would run about all night, the other expense is for the 
apparatus and for the necessary attention which costs but 



24 

liitle after the outfit is once going. And the benefit derived 
would extend over many times the original 2000 acres, al- 
though, of course, the further away, the less is the benefit. 

AVith so much material to draw from, for experimental tests 
water and kerosene in the bottom of the pail should be used 
and the insects be frequently laddled out. In the case of 
straight range work, however, the necessity of providing for a 
supply of water and kerosene to fall into must be done away 
^vith, since with many moths falling in there would be soon a 
layer of dead moths that would prevent the newcomers from 
falling into the water and kerosene and thus might enable them 
to fly out again. This trouble I would overcome by fixing at the 
lop of the pail an inverted cone made out of tin, practically on 
the same lines as the cover of a spittoon. A milkstrainer of 
suitable size with the screen cut out will do. This, with the 
blast blowing down into the hole, would prevent any escape, 
and would also cremate the moths as fast as they accumulated 
high enough and thus make the whole combination automatic. 

There is no good reason why this arrangement should not 
produce a benefit that would pay many times for the cost. 

However, if investigations were to show that I am v/rong, 
there is yet a very good chance to control the trouble with the 
torch. This is by using a blast as the clusters of eggs are hatch- 
ing and, further, when the larvae have grown some and are 
clinging during the hot part of the day to some vegetation to 
escape from the hot ground. On page 78 the author says that 
larvae placed on such hot ground ''in some cases would die be- 
fore moving an inch "' Thus between a lick from the 

torch and the hot ground there is not much chance for survival. 

The onion is the favorite food plant of the onioi> thi'ips. J>ut 
this insect feeds readily upon many other cultivate 1 and iin'iil- 
tivated plants. For control on the onion the Bureau of Ento- 



25 

mology recommends nicotine— sulphate sprays. The thrips con- 
ceal themselves a good deal between the sheaths of the onion 
leaves, similar to the chinch bugs on corn. There are about 6 to 
8 generations according to latitude. While young, these thrips 
are easily affected by the nicotine — sulphate spray. But the use 
of the torch affects all such ny:Mj)bs ^try readily and inciden- 
tally brings out the adults from their hiding places. 

When the onions get ripe or -ire ruined, the thi'i;)s look Tor 
other food plants, plants of the cabbage and cucumber tribe be- 
ing favorites. The Department of Agriculture advises not to 
plant any of these plants near onions. But rhen they are needed 
in any well regulated family and just the opposite should he 
done, at least to a limited extent. E-wjuu^h of these crops 
should be planted to attract the thrips leaving the onions and 
the thrips being thus concentrated upon these plants can be 
kept down by frequent slight lickings with the torch. These 
slight lickings ^re usually necessary anyway to keep dov/n cer- 
tain fungi affecting these plants. Late cucumbers suffer often 
greatly from fungus and applications of both insecticides .^nd 
fungicides are difficult, but the plants of the cucumber tribe 
very readily take to treatment with the torch. 

In as much as pearblight is spread through exudations on 
infested trees that are being sucked up by insects and then 
transferred into the sap of other trees by the piercing of the 
skin by these insects, I suggested in 1903 to the Department of 
Agriculture to make tests as to what would be the result, if 
these exudations were, at suitable intervals, be licked over with 
a flame from the torch. They said that it might be of some 
value. However, nothing was done. 

If the use of a torch should be shown to be of no value in 
this case, I would consider that smearing the exudations over 
with some such matter as air slacked lime, or a mixture of it 
with clay, carbolated or otherwise made strongly disinfecting 



26 

or not as tests may prove to be best, applied dry or, probably 
more successfully, in pastef orm with a plasterer 's trowel, would 
permit the tree to throw off the matter it wants to throw off, 
but would not permit the insect to have access to it. Of course, 
this paste after getting dry is quite liable to crack, due to 
evaporation as well as due to the growth of the tree, but these 
cracks it should be easy to fill up by dashing with a paste brush 
or a suitable broom some more of the same stuff, in more liquid 
form, over the stuff already on. 

To thus prevent pearblight, or what is also called firehlight, 
and control diseases of similar nature, work on covering up the 
exudations or the spots where they are breaking out must 
naturally be prompt for best results. Possibly a semi liquid 
smear applied with a pastebrush will prove to be best. 

And, well, so it goes on through all the crops. AVhile the old 
standard remedies have their place, there are cases where be- 
cause of ripening fruit they cannot well be employed even if 
otherwise they be the most satisfactory for the insects and 
rungi then present. 

liuring 1902 and 1903 I spent a great deal of time and money 
trying to introduce the lorch designed by me. Since its use in- 
volved a new principle, I knew at the outset that success, as 
rar as financial returns within a reasonable time were concern- 
ea, was dependent upon what position the Official Entomologists 
would take in regard to the use of heat thus applied. Being 
green, I thought I had a good chance. 

The Department of Agriculture reported that they had used 
a torch on a cabbage heavily infested with lice, and with un- 
satisfactory results. Well what else could they expect ?AVhat 
else could they use and get beneficial results? The thing had 
gone beyond control unless heat or some spray were used in 
moderate stregth very often, which w^ould make control, with 
the spray at least, improfitable. As a matter of fact, the De- 



partment recommended the picking off of infested leaves early 
m the game and I had, for successful treatment, required that 
the heat be allowed to play upon such leaves, or, rather, on all 
the leaves and without discrimination unless a plant is noticed 
to be heavily infested, and at an early stage, and as often as 
may be necessary to control them well at an early stage. Nor 
would they make any further tests, or let some commercial 
grower try it for them. 

But then the world moves. And the average farmer knows 
a good thing when he sees it. Thus it comes that you lind in 
Entomology Bulletin No. 95, part III. page 38, issued Decem- 
ber 14th, 1911, treating on c'hinch bug investigations west of 
the Missippi river, in regard to getting rid of chinch bugs after 
they have entered a cornfield and collected on the first 2 or 3 
rows, that they can be gotten rid of in two ways, "by applying 
a gasoline torch and by spraying them with specially prepared 
solutions. ' ' 

''The flaming torch is not altogether satisfactory on account 

of the liability of damaging the plants generally one blast 

will cause all the bugs to fall to the ground where they can be 

barned several spraying materials can be used effecively 

but most of these are injurious to the plants." 

These sprays cost much more.With the torch only the out- 
side of the lowest leafsheaths is affected and the plants grow 
along practically unharmed. The injury froir. the sprays is 
much more serious and much less easily overcome by the plant. 

To prevent the bugs from reaching the cornfield as they mi- 
grate from ripening small grain, dust barriers and coal tar 
barriers are recommended. The chief objection to the first is 
that ''often, during the migration , the bugs travel all night." 
hence are liable to get to your corn while you take a nap since 
this plan requires that the pulverizing "block must be k^^pt in 



28 

constant use, from early until late and sometimes well into tne 
night." The coal tar barrier is "apparently costly and trouble- 
some", the chief dependence being a sure enough adequate sup- 
ply of tar and freedom from dust, as this would require that 
tJie line of tar be renewed ' ' quite often. ' ' As either plan is quite 
likely to prove defective, it would seem best to rely on the 
torch on the outset. 

On pages 32 to 37 the authors point out that the chinch bugs 
hibernate chiefly on clump-forming grasses growing on waste 
land and in meadows and that burning these carefully over in 
tlie fall kills about 80 per cent of the hibernating bugs, due to 
the heat and subsequent exposure. But burning is wasteful. 
Moreover as hibernated bugs readily fly great distances to And 
a field of small grain in the spring, the work to be of ary no- 
ticeable value must be done by all the farmers in a neighbor- 
hood. Nature provided these dry tops for winter protection. 
Their destruction in the fall has a tendency to kill these aseful 
grasses out and have their place taken by weeds. Talk about 
the high cost of living. These waste lands con Id be made to sun- 
port many flocks of sheep. 

Since the Bureau of Entomology advocated the burning of 
the cottonstalks early in the fall — by about October 15th — Poi* 
many years past as the chief means of controlling the bol' 
weevil, I showed as long ago as in my Circular No. 32, 1905 that 
according to the Department of Agricnlture ''the burning of 
a wheat stubble deprives the land of as much fertility as the 
producing of five crops of wheat." If this is so,, the loss, of 
course, is not due to the little nitrogen that is in the stubble 
itself, but is due chiefly to the liberating of nitrogen and burn- 
ing of humus in the soil by the heat. 

On page 27 of Bulletin No. 139 of the Mississippi Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station you read : For controlling the boll- 



29 

weevil "plow the stalks ap, then rake them into windrows and 

as soon as they are dry burn them Do not allow the fire 

to spread as the burning of plants of any kind is a very bad 
practice. The soil is robbed of an immense amount of fertility 
every year by the burning over of our lands in Mississippi. 
Many good agricultural authorities even doubt the advisibility 
of recommending the burning of the eottonstalks as they claim 
that in time the burning off of this fertility will do more dam- 
age than the bollweevil " 

The long and the short of this dispute is just this : A system 
of weevil control that allows of using only three-fifths of 
the season, as is at present the case, is a very bad system . 

If you have all the fields infested so as to practically produce 
nothing by September 1st, sooner or later, it is undoubtedly 
best to cut off the plants — all the plants in all the fields — 
which is quite easily carried out, while plowing up is not at all 
easily carried out. This stops further eggdeposition, but as 
many larvae in infested squares and bolls would develop into 
adults if the plants were thus left, they, in this case, should be 
burned as there is no other practical way to dispose of the in- 
fested squares and bolls. 

Cutting off the plants along these lines, originally pointed 
out in my Circular No. 134, p. 4, answers every practical pur- 
pose. If the soil, during cultivation, has been thrown towards 
the plants rather than away from them, there will be few or no 
sprouts. But if there are, there is nothing to show that the mere 
feeding, even on squares, prolongs the life of the adults to any 
great extent, if they, in the absence of food, can select shelter 
at will. And no egg ever laid in a square produced on such a 
sprout would have time to develop into an adult. 

For proof I had shown in my Circulars No. 128, 129 and 180 
that in cages placed in the open field weevils caged and depriv- 



30 

ed of food October 26tli gave with a mean average temperature 
of 51.9 degrees for the next seven days a survival of 25.12 per 
cent. A cage, along the same lines, started November 2nd, with 
a mean for the first 7 days of 59.4, gave a survival of 23.3 per 
cent; a cage started November 9th, with a mean of 53.1 degrees 
gave a survival of 24.36 per cent and a cage started November 
16th with a mean of 55.3 gave a survival of 26.69. On the other 
hand a cage started November 23rd with a mean of 70.31 de- 
grees for the 7 next days showed a falling off to 12.67 per cent. 
The cause of this falling off was shown from the results of these 
and other cages to be due to lack of access to cool shelter when 
the temperature was high right after caging. That this is cor- 
rect is proved further by the result of the next cage started Vq- 
vember 30th which with a mean of 55.9 degrees showed a sur- 
vival of 29.7 per cent. 

These results show that I was right all along in claim in s^ 
that weevils left uncaged would select, in the failure of linding 
food, cool places, and not dry stalks and loose litter in tlic open 
field, especially if the rainfall is only 0.28 for the month of 
October as was then the case. This is further proved by a cage 
started in the woods Octobed 26th with Spanish moss on a 
stump for shelter which ffave a survival of 43.69 per cent, lint 
the Bureau just simply could not see this evidence Nor was 
any Secretary of Agriculture or Congressman willing to bump 
their noses against it. 

"With the stalks cut off by September 1st and burned i or 5 
days after, this, of course, means a quite different reduction 
than destruction by October 15th which would drive the 
weevils to the woods, where they could, with the temperature 
admittedly 10 to 15 degrees loAver during the day, easUv sur 
vive without food. If then the surviving hibernated weevils art.* 
watched in tlie spring as tbey arrive at the edge of the field 



31 
and are promptly picked off as described iu detail in uiy Cir- 
cular No, 137, they are so well kept in check ,that, as Tar as the 
weevil is concerned, production will keep up till frost. The 
stalks, having been spaced close rather than far apart will then 
act as hibernating quarters to a certain extent and they should 
not be destroyed till hibernation is well under way. Then they 
can be chopped down with the stalk chopper and cleanly and 
safely deep buried, thus doing away with all burning. 

In the case of the chinch bug, therefore, the use of the torch 
on the edge of the cornfield must be considered to he the only 
really satisfactory course. 

There were several torches sent to Experiment Stations and 
to Agricultural Papers doing experimental work of their own. 
One torch was sent to Orono, Me. and one to Berkeley, Calif. 
In both cases nothing of value was reported. They said the ap- 
paratus had become out of order and that was sufficient rea- 
son to stop work. One torch was sent to the Cornell University, 
Ithaeca, N. Y. Prof. Craig made some tests, principally for 
sicking insects on orchard trees. On the whole he did not con- 
demn the use of heat outright, but said the apparatus is not 
effective enough to be used on fruit trees growing up to 40 
feet high. 

Now, that is on the whole true. It was equal to telling the 
manufacturers of bucket or barrel spray pumps that their ap- 
paratus were not powerful enough for such work. These have 
their uses where the poweroutfits cannot l^e used. The truth 
is the power spraying outfits were evolved from these smaller 
outfits. There is no real difficulty to construct a torch with a 
20 to 50 gallon tank, one third full of gasoline, mounted way 
up on a tower as used with the power outfits to support one or 
more men, with as many leads of hose, pipe and burner as may 
be desired. With the gasoline supply thus well raised there is 
no trouble keeping the burners going. For workirg in ho]v 



32 

yards^ vineyards, or orang-e groves similar lower outfits can be 
made. The real question is whether or not the use of heat is 
economical and practical. 

One torch was sent to the Illinois State Entomologist. He 
published a report claiming that the Michigan Station had in 
1898, I believe, used a torch of the multiple type just described 
for work on the San Jose scale, but abandoned it as being too • 
severe on the plants. Next the Director of the Texas Sub- 
station at Beeville was credited with having done some original 
work with a plumber's torch in, I believe, 1898. But from my 
intercourse with Mr. Winfree I had reason to believe that this 
was due to Mr. Winfree 's efforts of selling torches in that part 
of the country for work on truck crops. Prof. Sanderson, then 
Texas State Entomologist, was reported Avith having used my 
torch on fallen cotton squares infested with boll weevil larvae 
lying on the ground with quite unsatisfactory results, which, of 
course, any sane man could foretell had to be as unsatisfactory 
as trying to sell a calf to a butcher while yet inside the cow. 
The report further stated that heat was applied to the leaves 
of a lilac plant heavily coated with spores, that the flame licked 
the spores off, but that after a fcAv days new ones bad cropped 
out, when every half ways educated farmer is supposed to 
know that the fungus works inside of the leaf, that the spores, 
in that case, are the resulting seeds, and their production must 
keep up till the fungus organization cannot produce any more. 
Tlie report wound up with the statement, that while the use of 
heat may be practical to some extent, it cannot at present be 
recommended and — there the matter did rest, aud is resting 
now for all I know. 

Neither Mr. Winfree nor myself was credited with having 
dore anything to point out the possibilities of the use of heat in 
controllino- inspects and fiirL'i. T wrote to th(^ ]\[ic] io^an Station 



33 

for any report they might have regarding the use of heat in 
1898 or thereabouts. There was no reply. 

Thus getting no encouragement from anywhere and getting 
it in the tieck fair and foul from a few directions at the same 
time, I was unable to see that I had a ghost of a chance to 
keep from going broke if I kept up this work and stopped then 
and there to await some more propitious time for action. 

One very good argument for that course was the fact that 
just then the boll weevil scare was at its height, Congress ap- 
propriating $250,000 for one year's investigation work. 

The Bureau of Entomology, at a very early stage, recommen- 
ded as the chief means of control the universal cutting off of 
the food supply as early in the fall as the crop, or, rather, the 
bulk of it could be gathered. 

Now, cutting off the food supply as soon as possible must, in 
a general way, be considered as being to some extent detrimen- 
tal to the insect thus affected. It is a recommendation nearly as 
old as the hills and has been a favorite prescription for the con- 
trol of insects affecting the cucumber tribe nearly quite as long. 
But every grower of these plants knows, that if he were to rely 
on it, it would not be worth while planting anything. 

The Bureau first tried to prove their contention through ap- 
parently favorable results secured at Olivia, Texas by destroy- 
ing the stalks on 400 acres during the first 10 days of October 
ard by destroying and keeping down all volunteer cotton. I at 
orce pointed out in my Circular No. 84, January 9th, 1908 and 
subsequently more in detail in my Circulars No. 85, 115 and 
129, p. 4 that the weevils in that case had, since the nearest 
cotton patch was 15 miles away and the pea was on two sides, 
the surviving weevils, having scattered in search of food, 
but a whiff of a chance to find any cotton at all the followinf 
spring, while, on the average, the cotton area is one-fifth of the 



34 

total area of the affected States. The Bureau being unable to 
dispute this kept silent. Nor did I ever succeed to have the Sec- 
retary of Agriculture or the former Chairman of the House 
Committee on Agriculture stir them up. 

The Bureau also claimed because of cage tests they made in 
1906-07 that destruction of. the stalks by October 15th would 
result in a survival of about 3 per cent of the adults then living. 
In the absence of details I pointed out in my Circular No. 109, 
Sept. 21st, 1909, that destroying the food supply would mean 
to force them to hunt for such a supply, which in turn means 
that failing to find it, they would secrete themselves in cool 
places of their own selection. This suspicion that the Bureau m 
its tests had not given the weevils the choice of such selection 
was soon found to be well grounded, because Entomology Bulle- 
tin No. 77 soon after came out and showed that the test cages 
were located in the open field, subject to the severe changes of 
heat and cold with no access for the weevils to places where the 
capillary attraction had not been disturbed. Even as it was, 
however, in cages managed along the same lines, Circular No. 
31 of the Louisiana State Crop Pest Commission, p. 208, records 
a case of a weevil caged as early as September 28th, 1908 going 
without food from then, with the mean average temperature for 
the first 4 weeks, the most critical time, at 65.5 degrees, till 
June 9th 1909—255 days. 

All efforts on my part to induce" those charged with looking 
after the farmers ' interests to force the Bureau to conduct 
tests that corresponded to normal conditions, that is in cages 
where the weevils have access to both such shelter as had been 
used before and also to shelter as furnished by rocks, grasses, 
Aveeds, bushes, stumps, on ground left undisturbed except for 
■^he fencing, and also in cages located in the woods, utterly fail- 
ed. My o.ontention is that destruction of the food supply once 



35 
it is delayed till October 15tli should not be practiced at all, and 
that destruction of food supply to be of real value must be pra- 
cticed much earlier. The proof for it and just what is wanted 
of the Bureau and of those charged with looking after them 
you find in my Circular No. 137. Thus far there was no action. 
There was no lack of effort on my part to shake up the affect- 
ed cotton growers. Since they seemed not to mind whether or 
not they got humbugged, I felt I should not press my case too 
hard. Now that the Argentine ant is trying to get into the 
soup of these same people I thought it would be a good thing xo 
point out a thing or two. 

The Department of Agriculture has always protested against 
anj' proposed legislation restricting its experiments. They are 
always hollering for more funds to carry on the work the}^ claim 
the nation needs. In Bulletin No 5, of September 27th. 1913, 
treating on the Southern corn root worm they complain on page 
II about lack of funds with which to make tests in an effort to 
find some practical measure to control this pest. Now this 
insect is closely related to the striped cucumber beetle which I 
had pointed out ten years ago, is caught in the traptorch in 
large numbers. Hence it is very probable that the Southern 
corn root worm and many other related insects can be cheapest 
controlled by the traptorch And the Bureau had a chance to 
make tests along this line for 10 years past. This traptorch 
ought to prove to be also the cheapest means of controlling cer- 
tain weevils infesting clovers. The strawberry weevil might 
prove amenable to this treatment. "... the 'green bug' in the 
South originates in spots in the grain fields " (Ent. Circu- 
lar No 93.) And there is nothing at present that is or can be 
better for control than a blast from the torch. Then you have 
the Mexican conchucla starting on its way over the South. This 
insect is a more or less gregarious bug and considering its great 
variety of foodplants a blast from the torch is the most feasible 
means of control. And — well — and so on. But what can you 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS I 

llii'ilPlili!!|l|||lpN||| 



36 



000 890 529 
do with men tfiat refuse to point out the supposea misiaKcrv 

they claim there exist in connection with my system of boll- 
weevil control, when you do your level best to have the 
Secretary of Agriculture make them do it, and when Congress 
has given them for that work alone somewhat near two million 
dollars? 




The Reinlein Knapsack 
Gasoline Torch 

Patent No. 739,221; September 15th 1903 
For description, see page 8 



Hollinger ( 
pH8.5 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



D0D0fl^DSE'=3D 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



